CyberKnife System

Patient Information

Patient Stories

Joan, Lung Cancer Survivor
After a CT scan showed cancerous spots on each of her two lungs, Joan underwent surgery to remove one of the tumors. This required the removal of the entire lower lobe of her right lung.

To help Joan maintain her lifestyle, her doctors decided to use the CyberKnife^_® System to treat the remaining tumor. She underwent her CyberKnife treatments over the course of three days, with each procedure taking approximately two hours.

"I just went in, laid down and slept," explained Joan, who is now cancer-free. "It didn't hurt. It was just like I had rested for a few hours—almost like a spa day. The treatment was so easy and let me get right back to life as usual."

"I wish the CyberKnife
could have been my option from the start."

Paul Sayer, Cancer Survivor
At Boston Medical Center, an ethics committee comprised of physicians and staff convened to debate a difficult case. A 57-year-old man’s life was in jeopardy, an aggressive tumor had taken root in his throat. He required immediate treatment to prevent a horrific death from choking. But the question on everyone’s mind that morning remained: “How would it be possible?”

For nearly 40 years, Paul Sayer has suffered from schizophrenia, a disease that requires permanent residential care at a nearby VA hospital. The optimal course of radiation therapy for his cancerous tumor would require 30 treatments, which his doctors feared would be far too demanding a schedule due to Paul’s mental illness. BMC’s CyberKnife was Paul’s only hope. Extremely precise, the CyberKnife can administer doses of radiation so powerful that Paul could be treated after only five visits to the hospital.

Learn more about Paul’s personalized treatment program that put his cancer in remission after five CyberKnife treatments.